Jean-Pierre Campagne

In strife-torn CAR, many citizens have begun to long for the "good old days" of Jean-Bedel Bokassa, the emperor who became infamous for his brutality.

Libyan rebels have captured two villages on the road to Tripoli, as Nato insisted it could complete its mission without putting troops on the ground.

Freedom of speech is the name of the game in Revolution Square where new publications have blossomed and women recite poetry in public.

Diplomats from the United Nations and from Spain on Wednesday joined a growing number of envoys beating a path to the Libyan rebel capital Benghazi.

Chadian rebels fled south on Sunday pursued by government forces, the military said, as the United Nations refugee agency warned that recent fighting in the country had put aid agencies in danger. Although a calm returned to the capital Ndjamena a week after a bloody assault on the city which left more than 160 people dead, the rebel forces said they were heading south.

A strange ''plant'' grows at the end of a stake on the deserted road among the acacias ? a red triangle bearing a white skull with the words in Portuguese ''Danger, mines.''